Particularly in applications where a combination of radial and axial loads have to be accommodated, it is common to provide a bearing assembly in which two adjacent bearings of the ball, roller or taper type are arranged side by side. So that the bearings are always in the correct position relative to each other and to facilitate the assembly of the bearings in the housing, the inner races of the adjacent bearings can be held together by a connecting ring.
As described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,908,474 and 1,379,945, known connecting rings are predominantly U-shaped, with the bores of the inner races of the bearings being provided with corresponding grooves and a channel to accommodate the ring. The connecting ring is commonly made of a spring material and is cut to form an open ring in order that it may be snapped into the grooves and channel in the inner races. In one embodiment described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,379,945, however, the ring is solid and designed to be made of a malleable metal which may be run or hammered into the grooves and channel of the bearings.
While this latter type of connecting ring is much more difficult to apply, it does offer the advantage over the open ring that, once in place, it can only be removed by destroying the ring. This is particularly beneficial when the housing in which the bearing assembly is located is often removed from the shaft on which the bearings run to allow inspection and maintenance work to be carried out on components attached to, or incorporated in, the housing, and the removal of the bearing assembly from the housing is unnecessary. Such is the case, for example, with a wheel hub assembly of a commercial vehicle. By providing a connecting ring which is difficult to remove dissuades the mechanic from removing the bearings, something which could otherwise lead to the ingress of dirt between the inner and outer races.
A connecting ring must be sufficiently strong to endure the loads which arise during assembly and use. For example, when used in the wheel hub assembly of a commercial vehicle, the connecting ring must be able to accommodate the forces generated during assembly of the hub, brake drum and up to two wheels. A connecting ring capable of withstanding relatively high loads is disclosed in German Patent No. 35 37 985. In contrast to the rings described above, the ring in said German document is located radially externally on the inner races of the bearings. This is because the strength of the ring is imparted by using an injection molded ring of considerable wall thickness, which implies that the bores of the inner races simply could not be machined by a sufficient amount to accommodate the bulk of the ring. Although the connection ring disclosed in German Patent No. 35 37 985 is provided with snap-in elements to aid the assembly of the bearings, the location of the ring between the inner and outer races hinders access to the ring when it becomes necessary to remove the bearings from the housing.